Monday, September 30, 2013

It has been busy, busy, busy! Lots of packing and boxes everywhere! I cannot wait until Friday when we get the moving truck and get to move into our new home. The most exciting part about moving is that I get a new craft room that I can organize and set up. And the two bonuses for me, is that we gain an extra room for my daughter's homeschool classroom and I gain a beautiful Jacuzzi hot tub in my bathroom! I cannot wait to take a nice hot bubble bath! =)
So a few things...This upcoming week's new challenge for the 4th will still be going on. Originally I was going to cancel it because I won't be around however; I do not want to do that to all of you. I am going to schedule the post to go live for Friday but I have given my DT the day off. hehe sounds funny saying that but some of the DT decided to still create something so there will be some inspiration for ya. I will not have any internet from Thursday until Saturday so if anyone needs me for anything please email before then. Otherwise I will be back up and running on Saturday but will not be online until probably Monday as I will have tons of unpacking to do. I am hoping to officially be back to normal with the blog here in a week or two. This is mainly for the weekly Talk Time Tuesday posts and any optional posts. So lets get on to our winners, shall we?

One lucky winner will receive 3 stamps of their choice!! So make sure to play along this week~

Starts: Friday, September 27th 12:00AM

Ends: Friday, October 4th 6:00PM

(central time)

Here is what I created for this challenge:

I used this adorable Simone digi from Kenny K and colored her in using my Derwent Inktense Colored pencils. I did a lot of shading especially on her jeans to give it a more realistic look. I fussy cut her out and popped her up on some foam tape. My actual card is a standard A2 card. My card base was made with some white Bazzill CS. The patterned papers are from a paper pad I got from Walmart called "Doilies". I cut one paper into one inch strips and adhered that to the base of the card. I used some chocolate twine to wrap around the strips to add more dimension and texture. I tied off a bow in the top corner with the twine. My sentiment is from an old CTMH stamp set called "True Friends" and is framed in using Emma's Stitched Mini Frame Die from My Creative Time. To finish off the card, I added some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts and the big flower is from my stash. I added some Blue Skies Sparkle Lightz to the centers of my flowers and one on the frame I then added some cute stick pins. Below is a picture of the inside using another CTMH Sentiment. That's it for me!

Now let's see what the FFC Design Team has created for this Challenge:

Monday, September 23, 2013

Happy Monday!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!
I have my home being packed up. We are moving into a new place on the 4th as it is a bit bigger and more modern then what we are in right now. I only wish I was moving back up North. Hopefully in the next year or two! So unfortunately after this week, I will need to take a bit of a break to get my new craft room organized and set up before I can jump back into getting crafty. I'm going to go through withdrawals LOL. Wish me luck!

Ok so let's get to our TOP 3 winners from last week's FFC #17 "Autumn".

# 12 Diane H.

# 17 Nana

# 80 Mayra's Designs

Our winner of the Your Next Stamp stamp set is...

34. Melissa SunshineHoneyBee #3

Congratulations ladies!

All Winners Please email me at:

Joann6274 at gmail dot com!

You will have 2 weeks to claim your prizes!

Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day! Thanks for stopping by and until next time.... Enjoy life's blessings~

I used this cute Boo Ghost digi by Bugaboo as my main focal point for my card. My card is a 5x5 sized card on some Bazzill cardstock. The patterned papers are from the Paper Loft. I colored in this image using prisma colored pencils and gamsol. I used my glitter pen to glitter up the pumpkin, ghost and stars as well as the black trim around the letters. It is very hard to see in this photo but its very sparkly in person. I took my black colored pencil and colored in the background very messy to create a spooky look. There is no sentiment because I think this image speaks for itself. I finished off my card by popping my image up on quarter inch foam tape and tying a bow in some olive seam binding. I hope you like!

Now let's see what the FFC Design Team has created for this Challenge:

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Our first question today comes from Sam who asks, "What is your favorite stamp company and your favorite scrapbooking company?

Hi Sam!

It is so hard to narrow it down to just one company for each because there are so many companies that I love and shop from. Oh Lord... why did you have to make this a hard one? LOL

I guess one of my favorite stamp companies on the very top of my list is Lawn Fawn. I love their stamps so very much. They stamp with a very clear and crisp impression each time and they do a fabulous job of creating such images with adorable smiley faces on them! To see what I mean, check out the corn, fork, spoon, turkey leg and pie from the Happy Feast stamp set. So stinkin cute!

Now for my favorite scrapbooking company....

One that is on the very top of my list is Scrapbook Supply. They have everything you need for scrapbooking from adhesives to albums and everything in between. They are very reasonably priced too. I like how easy their website is to navigate through to whichever section you are looking for.

Thanks so very much Sam for your question! Hope to hear from you again soon!

Our next question comes from Amanda who asks,"Hi Jo. My question is geared towards getting to know you on a personal level. If you do not mind answering this how many children do you have? Pets? Also what nationality are you and where do you come from?

Hello Amanda!

I like your questions! I like sharing my personal life with you all so that can get to know me better. Okay so to answer your latter questions first. I am from my mama =) Wonderful woman that she is .. her name is Barbara hehe but being serious now... I am originally from New Jersey. I was born and raised in NJ's capital of Trenton. I moved from NJ to Pennsylvania in 2004 where I lived until moving here to Texas 2 years ago. I am Italian and German. Mainly Italian. I grew up with the Italian side of my family and followed my Italian family traditions. Unfortunately, I cannot speak the language although I would love to learn it someday.

Now to answer the first part of your question. I have 2 beautiful children. My son Anthony Joseph (AJ for short) was a blessing given to me on December 11th in the year of 1993. He will be 20 years old this year and he is engaged to a wonderful girl Celeste and they have their own home in New York where Celeste grew up and goes to college.

My son works part time at ShopRite Food Stores in the Deli and goes to school studying Culinary Arts. He is a fantastic cook! He learned a lot from me before heading off to culinary school. He is very talented too. He draws exceptionally well, plays the guitar, writes music and sings beautifully. His dream is to own his own Italian restaurant someday and to open up a school to teach music as a side business.

In 1996 I ended up having a miscarriage to a sweet child that I had no idea I was carrying. At the time, my husband and I were not trying for any children. We were enjoying Anthony and I was taking the pill contraceptive every day. That is what ended up causing the miscarriage. After that happened I got off of it right away and decided to wait six months and then start to try to conceive again. Nothing happened. I was told by doctors for years after that, that I could no longer have children because the miscarriage caused too much scarring.

Well nearly ten years after Anthony, I was blessed with another precious gift from God; my beautiful daughter Gianna Celeste (Gia for short). I was blessed with Gia on August 19th in the year of 2003.

At this point all my prayers and dreams had come true because I was able to have another child and I was blessed with both a boy and a girl. Gia just turned 10 years old. She is a home schooled 5th grader who has a passion for singing, writing music and dancing. She sings beautifully. Gia's favorite color is Lime Green and favorite pattern is zebra. She loves to read, swim and hang out with her friends. She loves animals and wants to someday become a veterinarian if her dream of becoming a professional singer does not work out.

﻿

Both of my children have similarities in their music interests and I guess they tend to get that from me. When I was 11, I was approached by a scout wanting to record me but at the time my mother was unable to relocate us to California. My dream of becoming a professional singer dwindled at that moment and as I got older, that dream seemed further out of reach due to the way life panned out, Married at 18, mom at 19 however; I am also a very good singer and writer. Now I just write in my pastime.

As for pets, I have one very spoiled furbaby, Tiki Barker!

(Yes named after retired NY Giants, Tiki Barber)

Tiki was born on November 11th in the year of 2004. He is a full breed Shih Tzu with a gorgeous brindle(snow white/tan/gray/black) coat of fur.He came to live with us just 7 short weeks later and he will be turning 9 this year. He has been our pride and joy ever since he came into our lives. He grew up pretty much with Gia and has always protected her. Tiki is a very well behaved dog. He is fully house trained, listens very well and is the most lovable and playful pet. He gives us so much joy and so much love that I could not ask for a better furbaby to love.

Well I sure hope this has helped you to get to know me and my family a bit more Amanda. I look forward to hearing from you again.

Thanks for the great questions today Sam and Amanda!

Well my friends that's it for today. I hope you have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by and until next time.... Enjoy life's blessings~

Monday, September 16, 2013

Happy Monday!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I cannot believe that summer is over.
For me, summer flew by. I went in the pool twice. I did not even see a beach. Speaking of beaches, my 2nd hometown beach of Seaside, New Jersey; suffered a hard hit once again this past week. The boardwalk caught on fire and destroyed a complete pier and half of the boardwalk. Seaside was also hit by Hurricane Sandy earlier in the year. 2013 has been a very bad year for the shore. I feel horrible for the locals there and for the business owners who have lost everything. My heart goes out to them.
Please keep the people of Seaside in your prayers. Thanks!

Ok so let's get to our TOP 3 winners from last week's FFC #16 Sketch challenge.

One lucky winner will receive a stamp set of their choice!! So make sure to play along this week~Starts: Friday, September 13th 12:00AM

Ends: Friday, September 20th 6:00PM

(central time)

Here is what I created for this challenge:

When I think of fall or Autumn, I think of acorns, different color leaves and the festivities that come along that time of the year like Halloween, visits to the farm for pumpkin picking, Thanksgiving, Black Friday Sales and baking. I was excited that this week's challenge theme was Autumn.

I automatically thought of Thanksgiving and so I created this Thanksgiving card. My card is a 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 card standing upright. The cardstock used was Recollections and the patterned paper is from the Harvest Stack from Me & My Big Ideas. I kept this card simple. The peacock die cut and the sentiment label die cut are from S.E.I. I colored the peacock in with prisma colored pencils to bring out the autumn colors of the season. I love how this turned out!

My sentiment was combined by using two different stamp sets from Cardz TV Stamps. I used the stamp set "Happy Days" for the sentiment, "Happy Thanksgiving" and I used the set, "Encouraging Thoughts" for the "Blessings". I stamped the sentiments in "Vineyard Berry" ink from CTMH. To finish the card off I wrapped some twine around the card and tied it off in a knot. I hope you like!

Here is a close up of the peacock.

Now let's see what the FFC Design Team has created for this Challenge:

The Paper Shelter

Oddball Art

DigiStamps4joy

Star Stampz

Kenny K

Sunny Studio Stamps

Lawn Fawn

Bugaboo Stamps

Limited Runs Digis

Di's Digis

I Guest Designed For

All videos, photos, text and artwork on this blog are property of Jo's Scrap Shack and 3 Twenty Crafts. They are posted for your enjoyment and inspiration. If you do find inspiration here, and add it to your design, please give credit where credit is due, and post a link back. Please do not sell, reproduce, submit for competition, challenges or for publication. Thank you!